Dr. Linus Michael Emerson commentary
Season 6, Episode 7 - Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz Directed by: Mario Van Peebles ABC Commentary by: Michael Emerson Michael Emerson 00:01 Hi, it’s Michael Emerson. I play Benjamin. And we’re looking at 607, which is the all-Ben episode of the sixth season. Michael Emerson 00:10 It sneaked up on me. I hadn’t really sort of psyched myself up to it, so I’m doing the best I can on this one y’all and we’ll take a look at it now. Michael Emerson 00:37 More running through the jungle. Nothing worse than running through the jungle at night. You cannot see the vines… Michael Emerson 00:54 And, oh look, just happen to run into our friends who have bright torches. Michael Emerson 01:51 Okay, here we go. This is a flash sideways. This is the other Ben. It’s so much fun on a series to get to play, really, two characters. Michael Emerson 02:03 This is Ben in another might-have-been life. Or maybe it’s THE life, I’m not even really sure. Michael Emerson 02:10 He’s a deglamorized and de-dramatized Ben. Bad hair, bad clothes, the whole deal. Not really going anywhere. But you see traces of the Benjamin we know coming up. Michael Emerson 02:28 William Atherton, another in a string of fantastic guest players on our show. Michael Emerson 02:39 This is a guy whose work I admired when I was starting out as an actor or a wannabe actor. And to get to play a scene with him on LOST was thrilling. Michael Emerson 02:55 We’re shooting this at a high school in Hawaii on the shores of Pearl Harbor Bay. Michael Emerson 03:01 And in the distance… there are all these old battleships lined up. It’s the place where they warehouse the old battleships. Interesting. Michael Emerson 03:10 Here’s Dr. Arzt, that we know from previous episodes of LOST and a really funny guy. And so much fun. Michael Emerson 04:23 Back in the jungle…late at night. Michael Emerson 04:48 It’s three in the morning in the jungle and everybody’s a wreck. And the torches are difficult. Michael Emerson 04:49 Or they have too little juice and they don’t provide enough light for the cameras. Michael Emerson 04:55 They either have too much juice in them so they flare up and want to burn your hair off. Michael Emerson 05:06 Uh oh. Michael Emerson 05:11 This was the first time I had ever personally witnessed Miles doing the communication with the dead thing. It really was interesting. He really plays it well. Michael Emerson 05:29 This isn’t gonna be good. Michael Emerson 05:48 It’s really hard to play the “what” moment when you’re outed as a villain. You can only just make so many faces of protestation. Michael Emerson 06:20 I gotta say, a lot of face acting in that scene. Michael Emerson 06:22 This episode was directed by Mario Van Peebles. A wonderful director that we all know from “New Jack City” and his own stellar acting career. Michael Emerson 06:32 And it was the first time he had ever worked on LOST, so here he and I were thrown together and he turns out to be a great, classy, insightful actor’s director. Michael Emerson 06:43 P.S. – A good-looking guy. A good-smelling guy. Michael Emerson 06:49 The first person I ever worked with on LOST that wore cologne boldly and it was a great scent. And I liked to get close to him. Michael Emerson 06:57 Here we are back at the old Lostie camp. Ben has never been privileged to walk around here. Michael Emerson 07:31 Okay… Michael Emerson 07:38 Pay close attention to those wires Michael Emerson 07:54 Those are my real-life eyeglasses. But it’s gonna turn out to be a continuity problem. Michael Emerson 08:04 Here we are in Ben’s flash sideways domestic life. Remember his dad? Michael Emerson 09:28 John Gries. He’s been my dad right along. This is another stellar makeup job by Steve LaPorte to age him up. This actor is actually younger than I am. Michael Emerson 10:05 I didn’t know if I’d ever play another scene with Tania, my dear daughter Alex. Michael Emerson 10:17 And here she is in a completely different form, but still the same kind of dynamic at least, here she is again, someone that I should look after. Michael Emerson 10:43 Ilana’s very busy. What is she gonna do? Michael Emerson 13:00 He (Richard) materialized out of the jungle like he always does. Michael Emerson 13:31 A copy of The Chosen by Chaim Potok in the sand there – another little literary Easter egg. Michael Emerson 13:51 That’s huge. Michael Emerson 14:11 Good point. Recurring motif here. People keep talking about how different their lives would have been. And Ben says would it really have been? Michael Emerson 14:44 Oh good, here we are at the graveyard. Michael Emerson 15:22 That’s a little scary when she says “it’s for you.” She doesn’t have a warm look in her eye. Michael Emerson 17:36 Shocking. Michael Emerson 18:06 Now what kind of shovel is that? If Polynesian culture depended on its architecture for that kind of shovel they weren’t gonna get much done. Michael Emerson 19:04 Wow, that sounds desperate. Michael Emerson 19:35 Ouch. Michael Emerson 23:49 May I say that even when you’re pretending to dig a grave, you do have to sort of really dig the grave. Michael Emerson 23:55 And with a bizarre and antique Polynesian tool like that, it’s a long day in the heat. Michael Emerson 24:20 Make a mental note of those manacles and chains. Michael Emerson 27:20 Classic LOST cliffhanger at the end of an act. One of the great sets that they ever built for LOST is the Black Rock-it’s so cool and it lights so beautifully. Michael Emerson 27:28 It has so many cracks and crevices and stuff in it that they can shine beams of light through. Michael Emerson 27:44 How many times has Jack been in a Russian Roulette situation on the show? Michael Emerson 27:51 I remember playing a scene with him two seasons ago where we were playing a game of chicken about whether his friends would be shot by my henchmen. Michael Emerson 28:00 Remember that one with the walkie talkie? And here he goes again. Michael Emerson 29:55 Notice the bloody nose and mouth-- a scene was cut out here where Ben refused to keep digging and Ilana kicked him in the face! ha Michael Emerson 30:03 Guess who? Michael Emerson 31:54 Here we go. Running through the jungle again. Michael Emerson 32:20 This is a small-scale Ben-play happening in the life of a man that doesn’t do that kind of thing easily. Michael Emerson 32:27 It was fun to play “workin’ a number” but not confidently. Ben was always confident. But Sideways Ben isn’t. Michael Emerson 36:28 It’s a hard scene to modulate how much of one thing or another to do but it’s an interesting turn in the story. We must have done it 4 or 5 times, that scene. Michael Emerson 36:40 And we did it mostly sort of a long shot which you saw all the way up until it suddenly moves into a close-up which I think they almost forgot to do. Michael Emerson 36:49 And then we did it at the last take or so. Michael Emerson 37:09 It’s such a shockeroo when she says “I’ll have you.” It feels like a sea change in Ben’s life or his perception of himself or his place in the world or the game. Michael Emerson 39:21 Like he knew her in another life. Michael Emerson 39:25 It’s a nice foil for the loss of his daughter in our real storyline. And here in some milder parallel world he manages a rescue. Which is nice.” Michael Emerson 40:02 (I’m) not exactly the most welcome person here.” Michael Emerson 40:31 She’s thinking this is weird. Michael Emerson 40:47 Now we get the first classic LOST montage in many, many episodes. Michael Emerson 41:00 This is one of the great silent reunion, camp reunion montages that the show is famous for. Michael Emerson 41:06 Many of the emotional highlights or high points of the show have been done in this way and it’s been a season or so since they’ve had a good one. Michael Emerson 41:17 So this is kind of sweet to see Jack and Hurley. Michael Emerson 41:25 Because wherever Hurley goes, that’s where the heart of the show goes. You know that there is comfort and happiness where he’s at. Michael Emerson 41:34 And it’s all about Giacchino’s music, obviously. The guy’s a genius. Michael Emerson 41:51 But here we have a montage where the difference is there’s a couple of outsiders here. A couple of our traditional villains… Michael Emerson 42:00 We’ve got Richard Alpert and Ben, who are not traditional allies of this group and yet somehow they’re here. Michael Emerson 42:07 So we seem to be having a new group of allies is forming, a new combination of heroes, maybe. I don’t know. Stay tuned. Michael Emerson 42:18 So we have a kind of an emotional and, you know, a romantic regrouping … The inner circle is together…happy to be together. Michael Emerson 42:40 And yet we see now that it will be brief because the forces of confusion and violence are at their doorstep.